Regional and international sailing news

It's a busy week this week – just returned from two days in Singapore at the 1st Asian Superyacht Conference, run by the Superyacht Singapore Association - and it's an early start tomorrow for three days on the water shooting the RHKYC's flagship event, the China Coast Regatta.

Rather than move past the Superyacht Conference with half a dozen lines per speaker and a quick wrap, we are going to bring you a series of more detailed stories over the next couple of weeks. There's no doubt that it was a ‘class A' event, and really made all the delegates – especially the attendees from the Asia region – wonder why this was only the first regional industry conference. There is a huge amount of interest in our part of the world, so taking stock of the state of Asia's boating facilities and opportunities on a regional scale is probably well overdue. Although the conference was aimed at the 30m+ motor yacht market, there's a great deal that carries over to smaller boats – cruisers in particular, rather than racers. We'll be telling you what we heard, so watch this space.

But first, it's grab the camera and head for the China Coast Regatta. The 30-boat fleet constitutes a real quality line-up, and the weather forecast is looking optimistic for some sunshine and breeze. Again, watch this space.

And there's more - the Extreme 40s are heading for Asia (whoopee!) and the new VO70 rule is published, so keep reading...

Sadly, we also have the tragic news of the death of Andrew Short during the recent Flinders Islet Race in Australia - many Hong Kong Magic 25 sailors will remember him as the man who turned up for the Asia-Pacific M25 Champs in 2002(?), and whitewashed the fleet with grace, style, and damn good sailing. I remember shooting images of the boat (What's the Story) as they came round the top mark - and then just took off like bandits on fire. Tim Gallagher really worked overtime driving the camera boat those few days! Sail World Asia sends deepest condolences to Andrew's family - the sailing world has lost a great competitor.

Guy NowellEditor, Sail-World Asia

RHKYC China Coast Race Week 2009 - ready to go RHKYC Event Media, Entries have closed for the 2009 China Coast Race Week, organised by Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC). From this Friday, 30 boats ranging in size from the 76' Reichel Pugh, Jelik II to the 33' X-99s (which used to form the backbone of the Hong Kong yachting fleet) will contest China Coast Regatta in the waters to the south east of Hong Kong Island.... [more]Onsend this story

Extreme Sailing Series Asia announced OC Events, The first year of the Asian series will include events in Hong Kong, Singapore and Oman with the possibility of a fourth venue to be confirmed, and with a plan to grow this to a six-event series by 2011/12. Bids have already been received for the future series from a number of other venues across Asia.... [more]Onsend this story

China Club Challenge Match 2009 - an event 'comes of age' Al Skinner, Over the last six days the China Club Challenge Match organised by Iron Rock Sailing Club has been run off Xiamen, China and the first thing to note is that the standard of the teams has risen quite incredibly from even last year. Numbers have risen also, with 18 teams entered instead of the 10 of last year. It's a small number compared with a European regatta, but as 'growth of sailing in China'... [more]Onsend this story

Sail-World expands in North America with marine magazine alliance Jeni Bone, MarineBusinessWorld.com, The largest online marine news network in the world, Australia's TetraMedia Marine Group, publishers of Sail-World.com, Powerboat-World.com and MarineBusiness-World.com has announced a strategic alliance with a major North American magazine publisher.... [more]Onsend this story

Southern's Foiling Moth rig explained Brenna Pringle, During the recent CST Moth Worlds held in Oregon, Southern Spars new rig design was put to the test. Results are in, and 10 of the top 20 competitors were using Southern Spars kit. So what makes up the Southern Moth rig?... [more]Onsend this story

Vestas Sailrocket - The Beast is back! Paul Larsen, Update from the Vestas Sailrocket team. After a big crash like the last one we need to spend some time just dialling the boat back in and making sure it is calibrated. This generally involves getting the steering system in sync with the foil alignment. We have a system of jigs and lasers to get it within fractions of a degree on land.... [more]Onsend this story

Rolex Middle Sea warm up Race Event media, 2009 Rolex Middle Sea Race - 23 yachts took part in a 15 nautical-mile warm-up race. For a variety of reasons, not least of them the weather, this short race proved a good shakedown ahead of the main-event.... [more]Onsend this story

iShares Cup - Oman Sail Masirah crowned Overall Champions 2009 iShares Cup, Oman Sail Masirah has won the iShares Cup 2009, but it came down to the last leg of the last race on the last day of the last regatta at the iShares Cup Almeria in Spain,... [more]Onsend this story

Gold Cup showdown - Minoprio back on top of World Tour rankings Talbot Wilson, Argo Group Gold Cup - Racing had been delayed Saturday morning until 10:00AM waiting for the breeze to fill in sufficiently for racing to start. In their first match of the morning, Flight 3 of the quarter-final, Ben Ainslie (GBR) and Team Origin took their first two losses.... [more]Onsend this story

CYCA - Flinders Islet Yacht Race - the latest update Jennifer Crooks, This afternoon, Matt Allen, the Commodore of the CYCA held a press conference at the Club in Darling Point, announcing that the owner/skipper of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Andrew Short and crew member Sally Gordon had perished when the 24.4 metre yacht hit rocks and ran aground at Flinders Islet at approximately 0255 hours this morning.... [more]Onsend this story

PriceWaterHouseCoopers hits rocks in Flinders Islet Race, two dead Di Pearson CYCA media, amended by Sail-World.com, At approximately 0255 hours this morning, a red flare was sighted from a yacht competing in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's (CYCA) 92 nautical-miles Flinders Islet Race that started off Point Piper on Sydney Harbour last evening at 20.00 hours.... [more]Onsend this story

Volvo Open 70 Rule and Notice of Race revealed Volvo Ocean Race media, The new look Volvo Open 70 Rule, published today along with the Notice of Race, confirm changes set to enhance the fleet racing in the 11th Volvo Ocean Race, which will start from its new home base of Alicante in Spain in the autumn of 2011.... [more]Onsend this story

Vestas Sailrocket flip video and images - Back in a week after repairs Paul Larsen - Vestas Sailrocket, Latest news from Paul Larsen, regarding Vestas Sailrocket. 'We are making great inroads into the long repair list and I feel that today will be the day that we 'break the back' of that list. Long, late nights can knock days of certain jobs.'... [more]Onsend this story

Letters fly over America's Cup venue in Ras al-Khaimah Richard Gladwell, Sail-World, A terse exchange of letters has taken place over the designated America's Cup venue in Ras al-Khaimah, UAE. Today, Marcus Young of Golden Gate YC responded to an earlier note from Societe Nautique de Geneve, and a subsequent rejection by Dr Khater Massaad of Ras al-Khaimah of an accepted the invitation to visit San Diego and discuss the venue with the Challenger.... [more]Onsend this story

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